Quran was revealed some 1440 years ago as guidance to entire mankind. In the Quran Allah, God- Almighty, has addressed to different groups of people, which we have seen in our earlier post – “Audience of the Quran”. In that discussion One of the groups discussed was “mankind”, and we have studied few verses on O mankind in some of our earlier posts, we will study some more verses today.

As per the Quran every human has knowledge of God ingrained in his or her conscious, but because of external social and environmental affects, this knowledge slips deep down in our conscious. So essentially verses of the Quran are not new to mankind, they are just reminders of what already exists deep within us. For this reason, a person will find the verses of the Quran in line with his or her nature.

Addressing few verses to the entire mankind as “O Mankind” is very significant. By virtue of this address, God Almighty has closed the doors for later generations to argue against Him, that they did not receive the message. It is also important to note that these verses mentioned in the Quran are still applicable to us today in this age and time.

Usually through O mankind verses, entire mankind is reminded of the things like,

Oneness of Allah, His favors to entire humanity, His power, His attributes and His control over everything in this universe.

We are also reminded that the Quran is the true book of guidance and prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the true messenger.  Our attention is also drawn to the fact that everything around us in the universe have some purpose and they are designed with great care, intelligence and wisdom.

We are told, what is truth, how to recognize the truth, whom to worship, what is the final hour, what is the resurrection. What is Day of Judgment, how difficult is the Day of Judgment, we will be brought back to God on that day, for reckoning of our deeds in this world. The person who had faith in one True God and has performed good deeds in this world will be rewarded abundantly, while lack of faith in One God and evil deeds, will invite harsh punishment.

In essence, human kind is reminded to believe in prophet Muhammad PBUH, have faith in the Quran have faith in One God and worship Him alone, be mindful of Him all the time and not associate anyone or anything with Him. If we choose this guidance we do it for our own benefit and if we ignore this. we do it at our own risk.

So, let us study few verses today.

49:13   

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).  

This is the golden advice for entire humanity. As per the Quran every human has equal rights of respect and dignity.

This verse has few important points so let us discuss them. First thing God says “We have created you”, it means God has created us, we must remember this, God has created us, we are not here by any accident or by any chance, or by our own choice or of our own power. We are here by the mercy of God, He created us. Secondly verse says we are created from a single male and female, we are all children of Adam and Eve, we have same root, we are one family. We should not feel that we are separate and superior to others and take pride in color, race, look, language and so on. The social system of different nations, tribes, race, cultures and different languages has been created by God, so that we may know each other, we may appreciate difference in nature, skills, and qualities of each other, deal with each other with love and justice.

We see people take pride in their language, culture, color, race, their nation and consider themselves superior to others based on these elements. Quran rejected this approach and Quran says that God does not approve these criterions, Rather, the Quran has established norms of equality for all mankind and this is the foundation of global society for humanity as per the Quran.

31:33

O mankind, fear your Lord and fear a Day when no father will avail his son, nor will a son avail his father at all. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you and be not deceived about Allah by the Deceiver.

This is a warning to entire mankind to be mindful of day of recompense, on that day, every human will be rewarded only based on their actions in this life, no relationship with anyone will work that day.

Every person should protect himself or herself from the hardships of Day of judgment by righteous actions in this world, on the day of recompense no father will be of any benefit to his children, nor any  child will be of any avail to his or her parent. Each person will bear his or her own burden. The relationship between a child and the parents is the closest one, and if that will not be useful to one another on the day of recompense, than certainly no other relationship of any use that day. So, we should be mindful of this fact and do righteous things in this world. Every one will be rewarded as per their actions in this world.

It is further said that this is the promise of Allah and this is truth. It means that this day is certain, it is going come without fail, this is the promise of Allah, so we have to believe in it and we have to be prepared for it, we cannot ignore this day.

In the last part of the verse, the word deceiver has been used for the Satan, he is always inviting us to indulge fully in the enjoyment and fun of this worldly life and ignore God and day of recompense.

Now we will study verse numbers 6 to 9 from chapter no 82

82:6-9  

O mankind, what has deceived you concerning your Lord, the Generous, Who created you, proportioned you, and balanced you? In whatever form He willed has He assembled you. No! But you deny the Recompense. 

These are very eloquent verses, interrogative and expressing wonder at the indifferent attitude of mankind towards God and Day of Judgment. This is a kind of expression, God is expressing for us, which usually parents will express for their children.

We need to reflect upon how we came into existence, who brought us to this world? and what were the stages of our creation, through how many different phases we have passed and ultimately what a wonderful and marvelous creation a human being is? God has created us, He created us and every part of us and he created everything around us, everything around us in precise proportion and in very well balanced. We should appreciate this and be mindful that this cannot happen without the help of God. How can we ignore God, even after this knowledge?

There is also some mild warning here. Normally in this world, God Almighty does no punish any one immediately on their misdeeds – for their evil action rather give them respite. This is the benevolence of the God, but mankind misconceives it and believe that there are no compensation or consequences of their evil actions. They become stubborn, fearless and start rejecting the Day of Judgment, they indulgent in wrong actions. These verses are warning us not to be indifferent to God and not to forget Day of Judgment. َ

May peace and guidance be upon entire humanity.